1988 I-2 The last Gillette double edge adjustable produced - end of an era. Note this razor has a black plastic bottom plate and diamond knurled handle.

September 11, 2017 Vertical $130.00 (182754409634)

1980 A-1 Diamond Knurled Super Adjustable. One of the first. Note the overlapping manufacturing dates; both the earlier vertical and newer diamond knurled handles were produced at the same time.

Earlier Vertical Knurling (1977 - 1981)

The Gillette Super Adjustable also called the "Black Beauty" was Gillette's last adjustable double edge blade razor - the end of an era. The date code on these razors are not stamped on the plastic bottom plate. The date code is stamped into the metal base plate/blade bed and it is exposed by using the twist-to-open knob and looking past the doors to where the blade sits. There were two versions of this razor - an earlier one with vertical knurling (just like the Super-109) and a later one with a diamond pattern knurling on the handle. The earlier vertical knurling version was available from 1977 (X-1) to 1981 (B-4). The later diamond knurling was available from 1980 (A-1) to 1988. (I-2). So both types of knurling were made concurrently and simultaneously during the 1980 and 1981 time frame. The version of this razor (black bottom plate) is easily found as an X-1 (1st quarter 1977) but no razors from the previous quarter (W-4 fourth quarter 1976) at all have been found. In fact, Achim - "Mr Razor" believes that there is no W-4 Gillette Super Adjustable of any type to be found - neither metal nor plastic base plates. It could be that production of the Super Adjustable was shut down for a full quarter at the end of 1976 during the shift from nickel plated metal base plates to black plastic bottom plates.